The genus Anigozanthos' author was French botanist
Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière, who first collected the kangaroo paw in 1792 near Esperance. Red and green kangaroo paw or Kurulbrang (
Noongar) was introduced to England in 1833, and was first described in 1836 by botanist
David Don. The specific name
manglesii is so named in honour of the first individual to raise the specimen from seed,
Robert Mangles, which he did in his English garden. His experience with growing the specimen is recorded in letters to his brother
James Mangles. The red and green kangaroo paw was adopted as the state emblem of Western Australia in a proclamation on 9 October 1960. An image of a red and green kangaroo paw was superimposed onto a view of Perth from a distance on a 5 pence stamp, issued 1 November 1962, commemorating the
Seventh British Empire and Commonwealth Games which were held in Perth that year. The stamp was designed by R. M. Warner. The red and green kangaroo paw was again included on a stamp on 10 July 1968, which were six-cent stamps in a series of state floral emblems. It was designed by Nell Wilson. In 1990, disease was found on the kangaroo paw plant in Okinawa. The unreported fungi, which caused the plant to become very limp and wilt, was characterised by a discolouration of the plant leaving it a brown to black colour around the stalks, leaves and base of the plant. As the plant began to discolour over time, white cottony mycelia started to appear at the surface of the lesions and then the plant eventually died. == Cultivation and cut flowers ==